Brokerages Set Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Target Price at $609.43

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $609.43.

MLM has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $559.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $491.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $615.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st.

Insider Activity at Martin Marietta Materials

In other news, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.00, for a total transaction of $632,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,673,425. This represents a 27.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Michael J. Petro acquired 550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $454.37 per share, with a total value of $249,903.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,985 shares in the company, valued at $4,082,514.45. The trade was a 6.52 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MLM. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,628,701 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $876,648,000 after purchasing an additional 704,460 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 9.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 425 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 10.7% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,734 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $939,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials during the 3rd quarter worth $2,975,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 8,220 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,914,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $503.24 on Friday. Martin Marietta Materials has a fifty-two week low of $441.95 and a fifty-two week high of $633.23. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $489.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $533.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The company has a market cap of $30.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.81.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.17. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.11% and a net margin of 30.54%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials will post 19.53 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is 9.77%.

Martin Marietta Materials Company Profile

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc, a natural resource-based building materials company, supplies aggregates and heavy-side building materials to the construction industry in the United States and internationally. It offers crushed stone, sand, and gravel products; ready mixed concrete and asphalt; paving products and services; and Portland and specialty cement for use in the infrastructure projects, and nonresidential and residential construction markets, as well as in the railroad, agricultural, utility, and environmental industries.